


Taking Offense

by SugarCookieBear



Series: Mermaid Purses [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Accidental Bonding, I’m back bitches!, Lance is the Youngest of Five, M/M, Merperson Keith (Voltron), Merperson Lance (Voltron), Predator/Prey, Protective Keith (Voltron), Scientific bs, autistic author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarCookieBear/pseuds/SugarCookieBear
Summary: They don’t know Keith is a predator. It’s not like he would have admitted to his pod, to his family, to his friends, to his pod leaders, that he was mated to a predator! They’d probably try to stop him from going back, and, like the overprotective guppy that he is, Keith would assume the worst and—well, Lance has seen his mate hunt. Keith is terrifying when he wants to be.Keith would win.The surprise fifth installment of Mermaid Purses
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Mermaid Purses [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904443
Comments: 7
Kudos: 124





	Taking Offense

**Author's Note:**

> Expect the usual scientific bs, because nothing here is possible irl. It would take much longer to develop a mammalian-ish brain with their level of intelligence. Etcetera, etcetera.
> 
> Again: this is sci-fi level bullshit. Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
> 
> ALSO
> 
> Some corrections:
> 
> In the second story, I mentioned that the baby would be born in the father’s egg type. However, I also said that mermaid eggs are born after one-month of gestation. However, in the fourth story, I saId three months. This is because predator eggs take three months as to have more time to develop inside of the mother. Thus they take less time to hatch once laid. However, prey eggs aren’t as developed when laid (1-month gestation) and can afford to be vulnerable while developing because they have a whole pod to defend them.
> 
> One more thing, so the story makes sense:
> 
> Prey has a mechanism where the mother can willingly abort the eggs by starving themselves for weeks. In doing this, their body instinctively dubs the absence of food as unsafe for pups. The body absorbs the eggs one by one back into the body, causing what they termed “phantom eggs.”

Lance’s heart was pounding as he crossed over the boundaries. Home. He was home. Even though it had been weeks since Keith had allowed Lance to roam freely, and he had safely visited his home multiple times now, he still got giddy whenever he hit familiar territory. 

Despite this initial excitement, nervousness still coated his every move.

This time was different. This time, Lance wasn’t making the journey alone. No, instead, he was bringing his mate with him—his predatory, super-duper carnivorous mate.

You see, his family has been adamant that he bring his mate to meet the family, as was his best friend. Unlike his lovely family, of course, Hunk had understood when Lance told him that Keith was unsociable.

His parents and older siblings—well—not so much. They still wanted to meet his mate, the socially awkward man who impregnated him. Because, of course, they did. They’re his family; it’s their job to worry (and their passion for collecting blackmail.)

He glanced over at where Keith should have been, letting out a questioning trill. Where was said-carnivore anyway? He was so quiet; it was hard to keep track of him. Keith, as it would appear, was apparently behind him somewhere, letting out a responding grumble from somewhere in the distance.

Lance knows Keith wouldn’t have let him out of his sight unless he knew Lance would be safe, so he’s not that worried, honestly. Lance rolled his eyes; the Makomorph was probably interrogating some poor sea-star that looked at Lance funny again. (“They don’t even have eyes, though!” “They dun need eyes to look at yah funny, they just know.”)

He knew from experience that he had to wait it out. Satisfied, Lance did just that, finding a familiar enough hideyhole and hunkering down. Safe from non-Keith-related predators, Lance allows himself to fall back into his thoughts.

Obviously, like any sane merperson in this situation, Lance couldn’t help but feel he was bringing a barracuda into a clownfish’s den. Keith was overprotective at best, and viciously territorial at worst. Of course, Keith has never harmed him per se... but his point stood.

And yet, here Lance was. He was waiting on his petulant child of a cannibalistic mate to catch up with him so he could introduce him to his pod. Well--former cannibal. (Keith claimed to have renounced eating other mers. Claimed.)

They don’t know Keith is a predator. It’s not like he would have admitted to his pod, to his family, to his friends, to his pod leaders, that he was mated to a predator! They’d probably try to stop him from going back, and, like the overprotective guppy that he is, Keith would assume the worst and—well, Lance has seen his mate hunt. Keith is terrifying when he wants to be.

Keith would win.

Still, despite himself, Lance is growing increasingly fond of the boy. He remembered a month ago when he was still at odds with the boy. Lance even tried to abort his pups. He regrets that now, as it probably caused a few phantom eggs... but, still, he was glad Pidge intervened when she did.

Looking back on it, he had been surprised when Keith had confessed but was also hopeful. After all, Lance is stuck with Keith for life, even if it isn’t true for Keith. He was skeptical, sure, but Lance has had his heart broken more than enough to know a genuine confession from a fake one.

Keith had gone out of his way to make him more comfortable. With Pidge, Matt, and Lance’s support, Keith started to take Lance along with him when he hunted. Keith did this even though he had clearly stated he was uncomfortable with leaving Lance vulnerable. He allowed Lance to make the trip home and back, (though for a while, Keith had made sure either Pidge or Matt accompanied him.). He even let him decorate his—no, their den.

Through their hunting excursions, Keith began to trust that Lance could protect himself and grew more comfortable with leaving him to his own devices. They had bonded, talking about their lives, and found they have many of the same interests. Keith, admittedly, didn’t speak much, but he was a great listener. (Most of the time, anyway.) It was nice. Lance felt that he had reached an understanding with Keith.

On the topic of Keith, he could just make out a familiar shark-like tail in front of him. It was moving around, probably looking for him.

“Hey, babe. I’m over here.” He says in a flirty tone. (He's hoping to make his hubby blush.)

No response. Lance frowns.

“Babe?” He tries again, a bit louder.

Still no response. Fuck.

His heart raced a bit. This wasn’t Keith was it? Fuckfuckfuckfuck. The boulder he was hiding behind was being moved.

He couldn’t look.

——  


SWISH. A loud growling sound echoed, as he felt the current of something moving fast, and SLAM.

Keith? Confused, Lance open his eyes to see— oh fuck.

“KEITH, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” He screamed.

Keith paused, giving his catch just enough time to escape. Keith went to follow her, but Lance blocked his path.

Keith’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Bud she was...” He trailed off, snarling and regaining his defensive pose. Keith pulled Lance backwards, (albeit gently)

“Keith. That’s my-“ Lance protested.

“HEY JACKASS!! GET AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!!” Veronica yelled.

Lance was too pregnant for this shit.

“VERO SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU’RE JUST MAKING HIM ANGRIER!” He screamed back. He wants to kick both their asses.

Keith must notice his distress, as the Makomorph abandons his defensive position. The predator tugs Lance closer, letting out a low comfort trill, all while glaring down Vero with a burning hatred of a thousand suns.

Fuck. His. Life.

This is not how he wanted his mate’s first meeting with his pod to go.

“Angrier?! He’s a predator!”

“He’s my mate!”

“Mate?! He’ll eat you!”

“I’d nevah eat him. He’s mah mate.” Keith declares with a huff.

Keith, the douchebag, has the gull to sound offended at her assertion. Like, how dare Veronica think that Keith, a predator built like a mako mako shark, would even think about chowing down on his natural prey. Then again, it was Keith. The man didn’t exactly have the best swim record with social norms.

“Mhm.” She said, giving him skeptical look. They glared at each other.

“It’s, uh, a long story.” Lance said, hoping to break the tension.

“We have time.” She replied, sending Keith one last withering look before turning to her brother. Then, she smirked. “Also, you’re gonna have to explain to Mami why there’s a predator in our house.”

**Author's Note:**

> Surprise! There is the fifth installment of Mermaid Purses after all! I just got out of college for the semester, so, I might work on finishing this series.
> 
> For context, I live in America, where a loud minority refuse to use common sense. I’ve been doing most of my work virtually, and it’s been hard to finish stories while simultaneously dealing with the increased workload because SOME professors assumed I have more free time. (Which, to some degree is true because my inner introvert took over during quarantine, but shush.
> 
> There was supposed to be more, but I’m lazy, and that’s too many people for me to deal with. I’d probably turn it into crack.
> 
> I had a nice picture of the starfish incident, but it won’t upload, so I’ll leave that to your imagination.


End file.
